Four die in beach rescue tragedy

A man and three friends died when they tried to rescue his fiancee who was dragged underwater as she waded in surf off a beach.

Amy Anderson was in the surf a few yards from the shoreline at Nickel Plate Beach along Ohio’s Lake Erie shore when a wave knocked her off balance and the strong current quickly pulled her under.

She came up screaming, and her fiance Steve Cupec, 27 and friends Jehrod Smith, 19, Kyle Kroetz, 29 and Matthew Smith, 21, fought against the waves to save her.

Anderson was eventually rescued by firefighters, but the four men died.

‘‘In 15 minutes, I lost a brother, a brother-in-law and two friends,’’ said Talon Smith.

Blustery winds coming down from Canada on Wednesday had stirred up white-capped waves not usually found on that stretch of the coastline.

It was so rough that charter boats cancelled their fishing trips, and authorities that morning closed the beach, about 50 miles west of Cleveland, to swimming.

Anderson and her friends had piled into two cars for their trip to the beach that day. They were told at the gate that they couldn’t swim, but they decided to stay.

They spread out beach blankets and took some pictures. After a few minutes, the lure of the water was too much on a bright 80F day.

They asked a park worker if the waves were really too dangerous and were told ‘‘just be careful,’’ Talon Smith said. ‘‘They asked her more than once.’’

Most of the beachgoers didn’t go into the water as the waves reached 4ft to 6ft.

Anderson told authorities she was little more than ankle deep in the water when the waves knocked her down. The current pushed her farther from shore.

Her fiance, Steve, yelled for help.

She heard their cries but had no idea where they were. She somehow stayed above water until two off-duty firefighters tugged her toward shore and she was picked up by rescuers in a boat.

Firefighters didn’t know the four men were still in the water until their friends ran toward them screaming.

Eight firefighters tied themselves together with a rope and went back in but found no sign of Talon Smith’s younger brother, Jehrod.

The bodies of three of the men were recovered on Saturday and the fourth was found today.

‘‘I know he was a hero. He went in to save a girl,’’ said Kroetz’s mother, Sandra.

She said her son would have known the dangers of the water.

‘‘It was a day off and they went to the beach, knowing the water wasn’t very good and knowing they shouldn’t go in,’’ she said. ‘‘They were just going to kick around the beach.’’

But Kroetz had been an Eagle Scout and his friend Matthew Smith was a high school track athlete, which may have made them believe they could save Anderson, relatives said.

‘‘That’s probably why he thought he could do this, because he was in very good shape,’’ Frank Smith said of his son.

Talon Smith, who didn’t go with the group but later watched part of the search for the bodies, said he can’t understand why people were allowed on the beach at all.

‘‘They should have closed the whole thing down,’’ he said. ‘‘When I looked out and saw that water, I knew somebody screwed up.’’

City leaders defended their decision to keep the beach open, saying that everyone was warned about the dangers.